Carter 'resting comfortably'

Former President Jimmy Carter will spend the night at a Cleveland hospital after he was treated for an upset stomach he developed on an airplane, the hospital said.

“He is fully alert and participating in all decision-making related to his care,” Susan Christopher, a spokeswoman for MetroHealth Hospital, said in a statement. “The decision to admit him overnight is purely precautionary.”

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President Obama called Carter from Air Force One to wish him well, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters. Carter, 85, “sounded like he was doing great” and plans on resuming his book tour on Wednesday, Burton said.

Carter was expected at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Legacy Village at noon to sign his new book, “White House Diary,” but the store canceled the event.

“We don’t know when it’s going to be rescheduled,” said William Jackson, a book seller.

The Carter Center said the former president was resting comfortably after being taken to the hospital. Airport officials told Cleveland's NewsChannel5 that EMS crews were called to an incoming Delta flight at 11:30 a.m. for a passenger who felt sick. Upon arrival, they learned the passenger was Carter. Airport EMS crews did an initial checkup on scene, then took him to the hospital.

Carter’s grandson, Georgia state senator Jason Carter, wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday afternoon that the former president had left the MetroHealth Hospital, prompting a wave of calls to the medical center, but the information turned out to be incorrect.

“He has not been released,” a hospital spokesperson who asked not to be named said. “He remains here.”